Wi-Fi to garden shed to control water pump from an app.

[MrHappy]

I have a shed in the garden about 30-40m from my house. In the shed is a swimming pool pump (1.5kw/2hp) that circulates water around a water garden. I’d like to be able to operate the pump from the house using my iPhone. Looking for anything (ideally off the shelf) that can achieve this.

For Wi-Fi to the shed I’ve seen others mention the KuWfi wireless Wi-Fi bridge.

For control of the pump with my phone, I’d like at a minimum to be able to a) switch it on/off, b) have a +1 hour feature, c) 24/7 programming. Am I, in essence, looking for a Wi-Fi central heating controller?

Thanks.

[RizzoTheRat]

Assuming the shed is on the same mains supply as the house, the cheap option is a Powerline connection to get wifi in the shed.
eg https://www.amazon.co.uk/TL-WPA4220KIT-Powerline-B...

If the pump then plus in to a normal mains socket you could do with with a wifi controlled smartplug like the TP-link Kasa ones. That would give you the ability to turn on and off from the phone, and to programme on and off times. Not sure if there's a simple way to to a +1 hour though, you might be able to do it with IFTTT and a smart plug.

I mention TP link stuff because I've used thiers before, but loads of manufacturers do very similar stuff.

[Spitfire2]

As above. If you can get wifi to shed, using TUYA type smartplug allows programming various routines. Can set tap to run functions to run a heater for X minutes and such like. I've run a tuya camera using a wifi repeater running off a powerline adapter. I think i trained it using router in the house then just uswd same SSID for the repeater.

[MrHappy]

Thanks Rizzo, I’ve tried the Powerline plugs previously for Wi-Fi to my (closer) garage but didn’t have much success, the connection rarely worked. Appreciate the tip re TP-link smart plugs, it’s amazing what’s available these days. The Tapo P100 looks ideal, programmable from my phone and also has a countdown timer to off. The pump draws 9 amps vs 13 amps for the smart plug, so that looks fine too.

[MrHappy]

Spitfire2 said:

As above. If you can get wifi to shed, using TUYA type smartplug allows programming various routines. Can set tap to run functions to run a heater for X minutes and such like. I've run a tuya camera using a wifi repeater running off a powerline adapter. I think i trained it using router in the house then just uswd same SSID for the repeater.

Thanks for the reply. I’ve been overthinking how to operate the pump (heating controls and possibly relays etc), now I see what I actually need is fairly commonplace! You’ve also got me thinking about a camera down there as well. Cheers.

[silentbrown]

I'm surprised nobody makes a smart plug that use powerline for comms instead of wifi..

Powerline adapters aren't great if you're going through the across the consumer unit from one RCD to another., but you should still get a low speed connection. It's not like you need massive bandwidth to control a smart plug.

[MrHappy]

I take your point re bandwidth. The plugs are somewhere in the loft, certainly worth another go.

[Captain_Morgan]

This is a option if the cross circuit connection is unstable.

https://www.devolo.co.uk/magic-2-lan-dinrail

Though you’ll need the appropriate free space in your consumer unit.

Alternatively your looking at wireless mesh, external accesspoints or point to point wireless bridges to get a connection to that area.

All likely to be north of £150

[Alex Z]

Another vote for the TP Link Tapo being worth a look.
The P110 will give you power consumption figures so you can see how much electricity you are using as well.

If you plan to get a few, the prices are quite volatile on the four packs. They vary between £35 and £50-ish all the time so shop round.

[Griffith4ever]

Stick a kuwif on the outside of your house pointing at your shed. £63 a pair, probably one will do.
Stick WiFi controlled socket as listed above in shed. £20?
Job done.

Just forget powerline. It's bad advice and always comes up here, and almost always fails. It's fine for short hops indoors and thats it (disclaimer - exceptions exist).

[RizzoTheRat]

I've generally found powerline to be reliable but slow, I'm using Deco P-9's to get wifi where I can't get an Ethernet cable to an access point and it's very stable.

If going for an outdoor wireless bridge bear in mind it'll need an ethernet connection, my brother in law fitted one to the side of his house to get internet to the garage, but it meant fitting a bracket for it on the outside of the house, and running ethernet to it. Presumably there must be some that work as a wireless repeater and would therefore only need power though.

[Griffith4ever]

RizzoTheRat said:

I've generally found powerline to be reliable but slow, I'm using Deco P-9's to get wifi where I can't get an Ethernet cable to an access point and it's very stable.

If going for an outdoor wireless bridge bear in mind it'll need an ethernet connection, my brother in law fitted one to the side of his house to get internet to the garage, but it meant fitting a bracket for it on the outside of the house, and running ethernet to it. Presumably there must be some that work as a wireless repeater and would therefore only need power though.

Using a Kuwifi, or Tplink will need power anyhow, and the ethernet comes up that same cable.

Or...as you say you can set the Kuwifi to repeater mode - no ethernet needed - just power.

[silentbrown]

RizzoTheRat said:

I've generally found powerline to be reliable but slow, I'm using Deco P-9's to get wifi where I can't get an Ethernet cable to an access point and it's very stable.

Same here. If ultimate bandwidth isn't an issue and you don't want the hassle of running cables or drilling through walls, it's well worth trying.
Takes minutes to try. If it doesn't work. ship it back to Amazon.

For a year, we ran the entire house and home office over a powerline link from a 4G router on the top floor to a Unifi USG + hub on the ground floor. Now we're on fibre, and about to put a PV system in the garage - 25m from the house, and through two consumer units. I've just tested a powerline link and it's giving a solid 60Mb/s, which is plenty.

[Captain_Morgan]

silentbrown said:

RizzoTheRat said:

I've generally found powerline to be reliable but slow, I'm using Deco P-9's to get wifi where I can't get an Ethernet cable to an access point and it's very stable.

Same here. If ultimate bandwidth isn't an issue and you don't want the hassle of running cables or drilling through walls, it's well worth trying.
Takes minutes to try. If it doesn't work. ship it back to Amazon.

For a year, we ran the entire house and home office over a powerline link from a 4G router on the top floor to a Unifi USG + hub on the ground floor. Now we're on fibre, and about to put a PV system in the garage - 25m from the house, and through two consumer units. I've just tested a powerline link and it's giving a solid 60Mb/s, which is plenty.

Very much so, for every Powerlines are crap don’t use them post, I suspect there are tens possibly hundreds of users where there convenience wins out, for low bandwidth applications (like the op’s) they can be absolutely fine.

One thing that can help eek out some more performance is to get the router connected node as close to the consumer unit as possible (electrically) if crossing circuits.

Looking at the install/user manual for the bridges griff champions makes them look like a hard work option.

[MrHappy]

Thanks so much for all your replies, I can see a route forward now one way or another. In previous years we’ve had the pump on a timer, running for 3 hours a day, which is quite wasteful when we’re not there and inconvenient if we’re in the garden outside of the timed period. This will transform how we use it and it’ll run at a lower cost as well.
I’ll report back in due course with the final set up.
Cheers.

[MrHappy]

Just to follow up on this, I was discussing this problem with a friend and he suggested I try his spare pair of TP-Link powerline plugs (TL-PA4010P). Having set them up (a bit of a faff as there wasn’t a spare port on my router - I fitted a 4 port switch to solve that) it gave me wired internet in the shed, strong enough to watch video etc. Because the plugs are just wired, in the shed, I’ve connected an old Solwise Wi-Fi plug to the TP-Link. This in turn provides Wi-Fi to a Meross smart plug into which I’ve plugged the water pump. The upshot of this, is I now have control of the pump through the Meross app (which we already use elsewhere in the house). I expect I can simplify the kit a little but I’m just happy to have it working.
Many thanks to all who replied!

[sparkyhx]

MrHappy said:

Just to follow up on this, I was discussing this problem with a friend and he suggested I try his spare pair of TP-Link powerline plugs (TL-PA4010P). Having set them up (a bit of a faff as there wasn’t a spare port on my router - I fitted a 4 port switch to solve that) it gave me wired internet in the shed, strong enough to watch video etc. Because the plugs are just wired, in the shed, I’ve connected an old Solwise Wi-Fi plug to the TP-Link. This in turn provides Wi-Fi to a Meross smart plug into which I’ve plugged the water pump. The upshot of this, is I now have control of the pump through the Meross app (which we already use elsewhere in the house). I expect I can simplify the kit a little but I’m just happy to have it working.
Many thanks to all who replied!

Welcome to the world of smartplugs, we have them all over the house controlled by Alexa and the smartapp. We use them for lights (lamps) they auto come on 1/2 hr before dusk, switch off at midnight, holiday timers for when we are away, all voice controlled to override the auto settings etc etc - you can get quite creative.

vastly cheaper option than smart bulbs, but only work for things you plug in.

[98elise]

sparkyhx said:

MrHappy said:

Just to follow up on this, I was discussing this problem with a friend and he suggested I try his spare pair of TP-Link powerline plugs (TL-PA4010P). Having set them up (a bit of a faff as there wasn’t a spare port on my router - I fitted a 4 port switch to solve that) it gave me wired internet in the shed, strong enough to watch video etc. Because the plugs are just wired, in the shed, I’ve connected an old Solwise Wi-Fi plug to the TP-Link. This in turn provides Wi-Fi to a Meross smart plug into which I’ve plugged the water pump. The upshot of this, is I now have control of the pump through the Meross app (which we already use elsewhere in the house). I expect I can simplify the kit a little but I’m just happy to have it working.
Many thanks to all who replied!

Welcome to the world of smartplugs, we have them all over the house controlled by Alexa and the smartapp. We use them for lights (lamps) they auto come on 1/2 hr before dusk, switch off at midnight, holiday timers for when we are away, all voice controlled to override the auto settings etc etc - you can get quite creative.

vastly cheaper option than smart bulbs, but only work for things you plug in.

Same here. We also use one to control a dehumidifier in the winter. Its set to run for a few hours each evening, but if we're drying clothes in the house I just use voice controls to run it for a few extra hours.